Consumption Practices: A Virtue Ethics Approach

Abstract

Ethical research on consumption has focused mainly on the obligations, principles and values guiding consumers' actions and reasons for action. In doing so, it has concerned itself mostly with such bounded contexts as voluntary simplifiers, anti-consumption movements or so-called 'ethical consumers,' thereby fostering an artificial opposition between ethical and non-ethical consumption. This paper proposes virtue ethics as a more apt conceptual framework for the ethical analysis of consumption because it takes into account the developmental dynamic triggered by engagement in consumption practices. We build on MacIntyre's goodsvirtues-practices-institutions framework and Beabout's concept of a domain-relative practice and argue that when engaging in consumption activities, agents may pursue goods internal to practices, further their individual life narratives and contribute to the good of their communities, thus developing virtues that perfect themselves both as consumers and as ethical agents.

Sustainable marketing based on virtue ethics: addressing socio-ecological challenges facing humankind

“…A final key difference is that whereas a TBL approach tends to focus on the ecological dimension of sustainable development—as illustrated by the plethora of “green marketing” research (e.g., Reich and Soule 2016 )—a SET approach puts equal emphasis on social and ecological well-being dimensions of products (Dyck et al 2018 ). For example, SET marketing sees each product as a bundle of relationships (both social and ecological) and aims to be aware of and celebrate the people who made it (e.g., linking the goods created for a community to the practices and individuals who created these goods; Garcia-Ruiz and Rodriguez-Lluesma 2014 : Reinecke and Ansari 2015 ). SET marketing encourages consumers to be mindful of those who designed and built their product, and to feel connected to them.…”

Is buying counterfeit sinful? Investigation of consumers’ attitudes and purchase intentions of counterfeit products in a Muslim country

“…Despite the ethical aspect of consumer behavior having received scant attention from scholars (Quoquab et al, ), the role of ethics in explaining counterfeit products’ purchase should not be overlooked (Bian et al, ; Quoquab et al, ). Counterfeit consumption violates laws and therefore raises ethical concerns (Garcia‐Ruiz & Rodriguez‐Lluesma, ). Consumer demand for counterfeit products and brands is mostly viewed as “unethical” behavior (Bian et al, ).…”

Buying behaviour and symbolic consumption of food and alcoholic beverages among people with religious affiliations in Bogota, Colombia

“…It is important to note that affiliated people must have virtues to achieve goals in the community to which they belong and, as bearers of the moral tradition, show these experiences and practices, shaping their own experiences even in consuming decisions (Garcia-Ruiz & Rodriguez-Lluesma, 2014). Also, religiosity has a greater influence on trust than on the theoretical doctrine of religion.…”